Well I have made it. After 20 hours + travel I am in Uganda. But what an adventure it has been. I arrived late last night at around 11:30pm Ugandan time, the air was warm and sticky but a nice breeze blew across the runway. After getting my Visa at the one room airport I headed out into the darkness to meet but waiting driver to take me to the city. As I trekked towards the meeting area I was greeted by about 20 men asking if I needed a taxi, At first I said no and told them I was waiting for someone. One man offered to call the person picking me up so I gave him the number. No answer. So I waited some more. After 20 minutes I decided to walk over to the other car park and see if anyone was there. As I approached a man coming towards me said "AVSI?", or that's what I thought he said so I replied enthusiastically "YES, AVSI" He took one of my bags and we headed over to his car. The drive took about 20 minutes from Entebbe to Kampala, the capital and it was amazing to look at the window and see the stars. The driver drove as if he was taking part in a rally race but I was so tired and sick of sitting on a plane it was kind of fun. When we arrived in the city the driver turned to me and asked " where are you going" I slowly turned to him and said, "AVSI, I was told you would pick me up and take me to the hostel" He replied " Oh, no. I am a taxi driver". We both laughed but my heart was beating fairly quick now. I pulled out my small notebook and gave him an address I had for the offices, he said he knew the road and quickly turned around. We drove to a local taxi park and he asked a friend if he knew the place. " Opposite the US Embassy". We thanked him and drove back up the road. I had made it. I paid the driver and we both laughed again about the misunderstanding. I was met by a young woman and she showed me to my room, the power was out so she used her cell phone to guide me. I finally put down my bags and went to sleep. The next morning, being this morning I awoke and headed over to the office to meet my guide, Valentina Frigerio. She has informed me, over a cup of coffee, or a few cups, that I will be traveling to the north of the country for most of my trip to a city called Gulu. Here I will travel from place to place interviewing and documenting the work that has gone into rebuilding this area. I hope to post more info on this as I travel. As Internet is slow here I may not be able to post as much as I would like but I will do my best.
But now I must go an read, this is the start of something great!
PS also excuse any typos in my typing but the keyboard I am using is in Italian.
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2 comments:
"Beating fairly quick now" I'm sure that's an understatement. Happy to see you mad it safely and minus the one kidnapping snafoo everthings going off without a hitch.
wishing you luck.
An italian keyboard? Awesome! Also you seemed to have nailed "britsh understatment" on the head in your post haha. Glad you made it there safe me, Candice, and Kim were worse than little old ladies wondering if you got there or not!
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